[WhiteBeard]

How are older cars 2006-2007 withstanding Worst Canadian salty winter roads?

Have you done any rustproofing?

[Volasko]

Originally Posted by WhiteBeard

How are older cars 2006-2007 withstanding Worst Canadian salty winter roads?

Have you done any rustproofing?

So far so good with my body/chassis 2006 330i E90 with about 205k kms. The paint process is very comprehensive for our cars, so I think that has to do with it. I have never done any rust proofing, i don't think it is worth it for our cars. I have a friend with an 06 325i who has bad rusting on one of his doors, which I believe has more to do with a clogged water drain than anything else. I have yet to really see any E90's with bad rust near the wheel wheels like there was with the E46 models.

[TheBingoBalls]

About to reach 200k, no rusting. It helps the whole underbody is pretty much covered. Unless you have some body damage you didn't bother to fix, car should hold up just fine.

[TBN54]

Same here over in the East Coast. Clean exterior and undercarriage.

Gotta love having a car where there's a lot of snow and not having to worry about rust issue due to manufacture laziness.

[cpie168]

My undercarriage is all rusted from the previous owner. He prolly never took the car to car wash during his 4 winters. Brake calipers, differential housing, etc all rusted, but I was told the rust won't affect their function. Body panels are fine though.

[08njSTEP]

BMW takes body rust very seriously. The plant in south Africa used to dip cars on a conveyor line. They found air bubbles forming inside roof and under package tray so no rust proofing was getting applied. These areas are inside vehicle but BMW wasn't happy so they changed the line and process. The cars are spun 360° now. No more air pockets. It also uses less material, so 2 birds with 1 stone.

[cpie168]

I wonder if I should do rustproofing (oil spraying) every year or save the money and go to car washes more often instead. I hate the oil dripping on the side skirts and getting blown up from the front of the hood.

[08njSTEP]

Prior to 2009 BMW used virgin steel in its cars also. They have since started using steel recycled from its own cars, but this is another example of rust mitigation. A rusted car is unsafe and will not respond as engineered.

[08njSTEP]

If you feel the need for extra protection use body cavity wax. This is applied from factory inside doors, rockers and 1/4 panels. You can see it on all light colored BMWs as dirt stains on front and back of rocker panels. It is more stable than oil and dries to the touch. Much less messy and designed for the job. It has a long wand applicator and can be sprayed through any hole. 3M makes it as well as others.

[cpie168]

I'm not concerned about body panels but rather the undercarriage. I really don't know if the car will become unsafe if the brake calipers and differential housing continues to rust more in the years to come.

[WhiteBeard]

Wow it's good to know that we have one of the best cars in terms of corrosion resistance - thanks to smart and generous manufacturing process.

to: cpie168 I was referring to body panels, undercarriage rust is supposed to rust and it is completely normal. No amount of rust can make calipers or diff.housing to fail. Even some 30 y.o. calipers are not rusted through enough to make any difference in terms of safety. The rust on undercarriage is just cosmetic thing - metal of parts there - like diff. housing is so thick that it would take several decades to get to the point where something might cause strength problems. So I wouldn't worry about that unless you intend to keep the car for your grandchildren

[cpie168]

Thanks WhiteBeard for the reassuring information! Much appreciated! Now I feel much better!

[zuluZero]

Originally Posted by Volasko

So far so good with my body/chassis 2006 330i E90 with about 205k kms. The paint process is very comprehensive for our cars, so I think that has to do with it. I have never done any rust proofing, i don't think it is worth it for our cars. I have a friend with an 06 325i who has bad rusting on one of his doors, which I believe has more to do with a clogged water drain than anything else. I have yet to really see any E90's with bad rust near the wheel wheels like there was with the E46 models.

Sounds like I have the twin of your car, also at 205K. This is my winter car, and I check the undercarriage each year, and apply some minor spray-can rust protection from CTire. I see some minor "fringe" surface rust on some of the suspension components, along the edges or seams - but nothing that would affect the integrity for ages.

There was a fair amount of rust on my failing rear muffler mount, but I think it cracked from the vibration of the PE, then rusted afterwards.

So far I'm pretty happy with the lack of rust compared to my VDubs of the same age

[kenmar]

Originally Posted by WhiteBeard

Wow it's good to know that we have one of the best cars in terms of corrosion resistance - thanks to smart and generous manufacturing process.

to: cpie168 I was referring to body panels...

According to the Bentley manual, the E90 body panels are galvanized so they should be pretty rust resistant. I used to spray my E36 annually, but I don't for the E90. I am tempted to spray it to keep rust off the major pieces like subframes and diffs, but can't stand the dripping down the lower parts of the bodywork (it drips even through the summer months). The only thing I do currently is spray the bottom of the door panels with Rust Check spray early in the winter. No signs of rust yet, but then I haven't really gone over the undersides of the car in detail

[Nick.B]

Originally Posted by cpie168

I'm not concerned about body panels but rather the undercarriage. I really don't know if the car will become unsafe if the brake calipers and differential housing continues to rust more in the years to come.

Some surface rust on the heavy castings like differential and calipers is nothing to worry about. They're thick parts that will take a long time to rust to the point where they're unsafe.

I've had to grind down slightly and touch up the paint on the front corner of a door, and the lower corner of a fender.

One spot I found where salt and road debris likes to accumulate is under the heat shield covering the A/C lines next to the exhaust manifold. One year it looked good, the next year it was perforated. It's aluminum, so it will be the first to go when there's steel, aluminum, and wet salt in the same area. Some of the paint on the frame rail was gone too, and only the slightest hint of corrosion to the frame. It hadn't gotten through the galvanized layer yet. I cleaned it up, sprayed on some ZRC zinc, and some rustproofing gunk after the zinc was dry. Not pretty, but it'll protect it.

[marcvtec]

zero body rust, car is Oct 2006, drivin every winter,
some under carriage rust, don't really care about it, it is to be expected.
Best I've seen on a 10 year old car IMO.

[TheBingoBalls]

Did BMW change their process between the E46 and E90? Of all the 2005-2006 E90's I've seen (and I see a lot), none of them show any sign of rust. Compared to the E46 (of similar age as E90), I've already seen some of them rush a lot in various places, even with the later LCI models.

[siphor1989]

Originally Posted by TheBingoBalls

Did BMW change their process between the E46 and E90? Of all the 2005-2006 E90's I've seen (and I see a lot), none of them show any sign of rust. Compared to the E46 (of similar age as E90), I've already seen some of them rush a lot in various places, even with the later LCI models.

I believe they must have in 2005-2006 because BMW doubled their rust perforation warranty to 12 years on all 06+ models.

[GTA_G20]

I have an 06 with the corrosion module 300k no rust anywhere

[cpie168]

What is the corrosion module?

[kenmar]

Originally Posted by siphor1989

I believe they must have in 2005-2006 because BMW doubled their rust perforation warranty to 12 years on all 06+ models.

All body panels in the E90 are now galvanized according to the Bentley manual

[kenmar]

Originally Posted by zuluZero

...So far I'm pretty happy with the lack of rust compared to my VDubs of the same age

This galvanization trend is now pretty widespread in the industry to the point where the majority of cars right down to compact cars such as the Civic, Mazda 3, and even the VDub Golf have galvanized body panels.